Catalyst for change: Protecting students from hate crime, sexual violence and online harassment in higher education

Date:: 12 June 2019

The OfS-funded Catalyst programme has invested £4.7 million in 119 projects led by higher education providers to explore new approaches to protecting students from hate crime, sexual violence and online harassment.

An important aspect of the projects is to support learning, exchange and dissemination of effective practice, and help establish ‘what works’ in safeguarding students so that the whole higher education sector can benefit.

Round one focused on tackling sexual misconduct and involved 63 one-year projects
Round two supported work tackling hate crime and online harassment and involved 45 one-year projects
Round three supported work to address hate crime and incidents on the grounds of religion or belief and involved a network of 11 projects.

Our overview of the programme

Catalyst for change - safeguarding students

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The OfS's summary overview of the safeguarding Catalyst projects.

Evaluation

We commissioned Advance HE to carry out an external evaluation of the programme of 119 student safeguarding projects.

Please note: The evaluation reports below are independent research commissioned by the OfS. They do not necessarily reflect our views or position.

External evaluation - rounds one and two

The Safeguarding Catalyst Fund projects evaluation: Thematic report (round one) was published in autumn 2018. This looked at the themes emerging from the first round of the Catalyst safeguarding projects.

Safeguarding Catalyst Fund projects evaluation: Summative report (rounds one and two)

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This report summarises outcomes and recommendations from the first two rounds of the Catalyst safeguarding projects (June 2019).

Safeguarding Catalyst Fund projects evaluation: Thematic report (round two)

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This report looks at the themes emerging from the second round of the Catalyst safeguarding projects (June 2019).

External evaluation - round three

Safeguarding Catalyst Fund projects evaluation: Thematic report (round three)

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This report looks at themes emerging from the third round of the Catalyst safeguarding projects (November 2019).

Advance HE's final report concludes round three of the funding programme. It highlights emerging practice and identifies knowledge gaps in work carried out by providers to address religious-based hate crime and harassment.

Safeguarding Catalyst Fund projects evaluation: Final report (round three)

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This report highlights emerging practice and knowledge gaps from the third and final round of the Catalyst safeguarding projects (August 2020).